This invention relates to secured systems using pattern recognition as a method for protecting access, and more particularly to secured lists of passwords and personal identification numbers and graphical patterns.
Systems that are secured for use only by authorized individuals frequently rely upon a password or personal identification number (PIN). Examples of systems which utilize PINs include college registration, employee access to information, cellular phones and other communication devices in addition to savings and checking accounts, ATM transactions, telephone calling cards, debit cards, credit cards and numerous other systems.
While some individuals are able to remember random sequences of numbers and letters, most passwords and PINs that are selected by the individual have some personal relevance so that they can be easily remembered; and thereby, vulnerable to unauthorized access. When random words and numbers are used or assigned (often in combination), they are frequently written in a list that is kept handy. The list of passwords and PINs is often difficult to secure, which also facilitates unauthorized access.
Thus, individuals are faced with the dilemma of either having a password or PIN that is easy to remember and consequently facilitates unauthorized access or having a password or PIN that is so difficult to remember that it has to be written down, also facilitating unauthorized access. Therefore, there is a need for a system to secure a list of passwords and PINs from unauthorized access, but which are easily accessed.
The present invention concerns a method and system for using pattern recognition as a method for providing access as well as protecting access to a list of passwords, personal identification numbers or patterns. A grid is used for tracing a user-defined path through it to identify a set of unique characters positioned on the path. The set itself is one of a subset of a much larger set which is determined by the size of a rectilinear grid. Each character of the full set appears once and only once on the grid in individualized order and each user describes a unique sub-set of characters.
A path of 10 locations in the grid facilitates an embodiment in which the characters to be encoded are primarily numeric so that each location represents, one of the nine digits plus zero. A master code (MasterCode) of 10 natural language characterizes is generated with each letter assigned to one of the digits. To encode a numeric password (PIN) a word list is searched to identify natural language words which meet 3 conditions: (1) they contain the letters assigned to the pin; (2) the assigned letters occur only in the same order as in the pin; and (3) the unused letters in the MasterCode do not occur.
In another embodiment the characters from which a MasterCode can be drawn include numbers, symbols and upper and lower case letters. The identification of the step in the path by numeric sequence creates a SecureNumber. A typical use would be where 81 keyboard symbols, numbers and letters comprise the larger set; a randomly selected 15 to 20 unique characters comprise the MasterCode group for a given individual; each of the assigned passwords of 4 to 8 characters is randomly generated to from the MasterCode.
In another embodiment, a xe2x80x9cmasterxe2x80x9d computer generates a series of grids with characters or picto grams in different arrangements and provides them to a xe2x80x9cslavexe2x80x9d computer. The slave computer chooses any one of the grids as the first step. Next, it selects a path through the chosen grid. To retrieve the PIN the slave computer first selects the unique grid it provided previously, and next the unique path in the grid is traced. Either step can be controlled by the keyboard, mouse, stylus, pointing devices, orally or, a combination of these. The Oral control provides an additional level of security beyond the security provided with the encrypted password alone. If the proper pictogram and path are chosen, valid access is enabled.